How I Turned My Yard Into a Food Paradise

Permaculture instructor Andrew Millison gives a tour of his 15 year Permaculture food paradise at his home in the Willamette Valley of Western Oregon. There are 5 key design strategies outlined that have brought such abundance to the 1/3 acre lot.

Oregon State University Online Permaculture Design Course:

Andrew Millison’s links:

JOIN THIS CHANNEL to get access to uncut video content:

SIGN UP FOR MY FREE NEWSLETTER:

[xonor]

This is an HOA's worst nightmare. A lawn that's actually productive and more than a status symbol. Love it.

[DATApushr]

Imagine if everyone's yards were like this. The abundance of free food in your neighborhood would be mind blowing.

[Jinchuricki]

This needs to be a national movement. I love this so much.

[AlexxForest]

My mom won't even entertain the idea of planting anything beyond grass in the front yard. You are living the dream I have had for years.

[claytonleal]

"everybody has a lot of friends when youve got a lot of extra tomatoes" i want this on a shirt for a community garden

[brenkelly]

Dude, you show why living a purposeful life in touch with nature directly leads to way more contentment and happiness than billionaires won’t accomplish. I love your place.

[Zoranurai]

This literally reduces stress around your house. All the colors, bees, life. So much better than paving and asphalt everywhere

[topaz]

I'm just 5 years into this, and am in an HOA. I spent the first year getting the trees and shrubs approved, then began tucking other things in and around them... packing tightly for a permaculture garden with a beautiful aesthetic. To the neighbors, it's just a cottage garden and the HOA drive-by officials know me, and just smile and wave as they drive by. LOL 😂 Everyone seems to be happy bc I planted in tiered layers with an eye toward different colors and textures. Interestingly enough, no one seems to be aware of the fruit and vegetables tucked into things. I spend considerable time keeping it neat and tidy, which probably helps.

[KacangFamily]

We have an HOA so the front lawn is grass… but once you walk into our backyard it’s a different story. We added fruit trees, berry bushes and garden boxes slowly turning it into what my toddler says a mini farm.

[conorm]

I was confused how anybody could hate on a yard like this, then I saw an instagram post of someone’s beautiful yard they had clearly put a lot of work into, and i saw many comments saying that they wouldnt want a yard like this because it attracts rats and mice and other ‘pests’.

It made me sad to see so many of these close minded comments get so many likes, when I believe that yards like this can save the world. One thing i’ll say is that a yard like this is MUCH nicer to look at than a boring grass lawn. 😊

Keep it up youre living my dream 👍🏻

[jakenguyen]

Crack-in-the-sidewalk-apple is actually the most prized variety of apple, especially when it comes uninvited.

[randomnik]

Nice to see an American that's not obsessed with only having a perfect lawn

[this_is_not_my_real_name]

When I was a kid we would always stop at every fruit tree between school and home. It's nice to see people still encouraging that. In New Zealand, almost everyone used to have a feijoa tree in their garden. They're such delicious fruit!

[cyberfeedforward]

People are always complaining about food scarcity, high food prices, global warming, poor nutrition and obesity, etc. This is a great way to combat all of that.

Unfortunately NIMBYs are the hardest pests to deal with. I'm glad your neighbours aren't complaining.

[alyasvlogs]

I live on the same street as an elementary school and every day after school you can see the kids running over to my house to pick the cherries out of the cherry tree. Love the idea of making this bigger and having more to share with the community!

[Nickster]

This is how people used to be when I was a kid in Moldova, your yard was never a flower yard, cherries, grapes, strawberries, fruit trees and whatever you could get your hands on, god it was great.

[BarrieBM]

"Your quallity of life really goes up when you surround yourself with gardens, nature"
I couldn't agree more, perfectly said

[carmenortiz]

I am jealous. I also have 1/3 acre in town. I moved here the day before Christmas (northern MN). On the first day of work I went to city hall and asked permission to turn my property into a certified wildlife habitat and invoked the Grandfather clause to grow vegetables (middle of a town of lawns) which were granted and immediately deleted from the books. I have a jungle this year due to NO WINTER and lots of rain. Can't have chickens. My problem is the orientation of the sun, which keeps me from too many vegetables. Also a cottage in the sun's way. Found out that if you throw away really old tomato seeds, hoping for a few plants, you end up with around 100, growing fine almost on top of each other, I do have garlic, J Artichoks, and other plants that are tough. Been following you for years.

[seungltd]

#1 Productive edges
#2 Plant food everywhere
#3 Plant diversity + pollinators (beehives)
#4 Chicken rotation system
#5 Micro-climates: solar access/canopy, green house

[chattenmetchad]

I LOVED your permaculture garden tour video! Words cannot describe the joy I feel when I saw that you dropped a new one. Cheers to you!